As the Federal Reserve stood pat on its bond-buying stimulus Wednesday, two sentences from the Fed's statement explaining its action stand out.

First, Fed policymakers said "indicators of labor market activity have shown some further improvement." That's arguably more upbeat than last month's observation that "Some indicators of labor market activity" are improving. The Fed still considers the unemployment rate too high at 7.2%. Only when the labor market tightens would the Fed take its foot off the gas.

Second, the committee noted that the housing recovery has "slowed somewhat in recent months.'' Last month's statement said "the housing sector has been strengthening.'' (That the slowdown has been a function of rising interest rates, stemming from concerns that the Fed would tighten, went unremarked upon). That language points to the Fed waiting longer to tighten money.

The offsetting signals — along with the Fed's continued wariness about what Congress and President Obama might do next to cut spending or raise taxes — explain why the Fed is standing pat.

The statement says the central bank will keep buying bonds until the "outlook for the labor market has improved substantially in a context of price stability.''

That language is exactly the same as it was in the Fed's statement after last month's meeting. With today's report from ADP that private-sector hiring in October was a lower-than-expected 130,000 new jobs, it's easy to see why the decision to keep buying bonds was unchanged as well.